(ABC)
Donald Trump Jr. defended his controversial “gas chamber” comment on Friday’s “GMA.” See video below.
During an interview earlier this week, Trump ranted about the media treatment of his father, presidential candidate Donald Trump, versus opponent Hillary Clinton. He said, “The media has been her number one surrogate in this. Without the media, this wouldn’t even be a contest. But the media has built her up. They’ve let her slide on every indiscrepancy [sic], on every lie, on every DNC game trying to get Bernie Sanders out of the thing. I mean, if Republicans were doing that, they’d be warming up the gas chamber right now. It’s a very different system — there’s nothing fair about it.”
Many interpreted the “gas chamber” remark to be an offensive reference to the Holocaust. Speaking with George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America,” Trump denied that was his intention. “I didn’t say anything about the Holocaust. I was talking about media bias,” he insisted. “I was talking about, if you’re conservative, it’s essentially capital punishment.”
Trump went on to acknowledge, “It was poor choice of words, perhaps, but in no way, shape, or form was I ever even remotely talking about the Holocaust. I wouldn’t do it. I think that’s disgusting. It’s not my style.” Fom there, he went on to claim that the backlash to his remark is just further evidence of the “media bias” against his family.
Still, Stephanopoulos pointed out that there have been other comments that people have taken to be anti-Semitic, including a recent meme Trump posted on Instagram. “If I’m glib, perhaps that’s the case,” he responded.
During the interview, Trump and Stephanopoulos also sparred about the Republican nominee’s involvement in the birther movement, and how the mogul’s ties to business will supposedly change if he’s elected. Watch below.
